Keynote Speakers

Here are the exciting Keynotes for the 2017 AAOMPT Conference!

Paul Mintken DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT

Dr. Mintken is a Professor in the Physical Therapy Program at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He completed his fellowship training in orthopaedic manual therapy at Regis University. He is a board-certified Orthopaedic Clinical Specialist and a Fellow in the American Academy of Orthopaedic and Manual Physical Therapists. He maintains an active research agenda investigating conservative care for musculoskeletal disorders as well as spinal and extremity manipulation. He has received research grants from the APTA and AAOMPT. He has multiple publications in over a dozen different peer-reviewed journals and has co-authored 3 eBooks and 7 book chapters. His awards include the Dorothy Baethke-Eleanor J. Carlin Award for Excellence in Academic Teaching, the Rose Excellence in Research Award, the JOSPT Excellence in Research Award and the Chattanooga Research Award. Dr. Mintken is also a lead clinician at Wardenburg Health Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Jo Nijs, PT, MT, PhD

Jo Nijs holds a PhD in rehabilitation science and physiotherapy. He is professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Brussels, Belgium) and physiotherapist/manual therapist at the University Hospital Brussels. He is guest lecturer in the master in manual therapy of the Universidad Europea in Spain, and the PhD neuroscience program of the University of Genoa, Italy. His research and clinical interests are patients with chronic unexplained pain / fatigue and pain-movement interactions. He has (co-)authored 185 peer reviewed publications, obtained €5.6 million of grant income, supervised 8 PhD projects to completion (excluding 16 ongoing PhD projects) and served more than 200 times as an invited speaker at (inter)national meetings in 24 different countries (including 23 keynotes). His work has been cited >2700 times (ISI Web of Knowledge). Jo is ranked 1st in the world among chronic fatigue syndrome researchers, 4th in the world among whiplash researchers and 7th in the world among chronic pain researchers (expertscape.com).

Carolyn Emery, PT, PhD

Dr. Carolyn Emery was recently appointed as the Associate dean Research in the Faculty of Kinesiology. She is a physiotherapist and sport injury epidemiologist. Her PhD in Epidemiology is from the Department of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Alberta. Her research fields include sport injury epidemiology, randomized controlled trials in injury prevention in sport and rehabilitation in pediatrics and sport medicine. Her research focuses primarily on injury prevention in child and adolescent sport and recreation. Dr. Emery is an associate professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and the Departments of Pediatrics and Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary. Carolyn holds a Professorship in Pediatric Rehabilitation funded through Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation.

Dr. Emery is co-chair of the Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre (SIPRC) [1 of 4 International Olympic Committee Research Centres of Excellence in Injury Prevention in Sport] in the Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Calgary. Dr. Emery is the co-lead of the Alberta Program in Youth Sport and Recreational Injury Prevention (an Alberta Innovates Health Solutions Collaborative Research and Innovation Opportunity Program) and Safe to Play (a Canadian Institutes for Health Research Program in Pediatric Concussion). Dr. Emery is also the Prevention Theme co-lead for Alberta Team Osteoarthritis (an Alberta Innovates Health Solutions Collaborative Research and Innovation Opportunity Team) where her research relates to preventing injury to prevent osteoarthritis. Dr. Emery is a member of the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute for Child and Maternal Health, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Institute for Public Health and McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health.

The primary focus of Dr. Emery’s research program is the identification of risk factors for injury and evaluation of prevention strategies to reduce the risk of injury in youth sport and recreation. This includes prevention of longer term sequelae, including osteoarthritis, to promote active and healthy lifestyles and to maximize the benefits of rehabilitation in pediatrics and sport medicine. Dr. Emery is best known for her research program in injury and concussion risk in youth ice hockey including evaluation of policy related to body checking. In addition, her research associated with the development and evaluation of prevention strategies to decrease the risk of injuries in hockey, soccer, basketball and junior high school has led to a significant public health impact in injury reduction in youth sport.